No, seriously, the offense made the Cowboys' first team defense look like absolute s**t out there. Rivers threw to everyone in navy blue with ease and Mathews has now shown everyone that there is no such thing as an arm tackle with him. Everyone is a yard (or more) behind him by the time they even see his jersey; I'm immediately reminded of his episode of Sports Science where he showcased his lateral abilities.

The offensive line is nice and physical, which is coming in very handy for the run game. For a while, both sides of the line had the pass protection down as well. Clary started blowing it and then at the end of the half Dombrowski started to as well. Those three sacks (2 official) were on the offensive lineman. I disagree, the pressure to get McNeil on that line is righteously growing.

Defense = solid. Cason is a good 200x better than Cromartie ever was. Hell, Strickland is 100x better. They're avoiding Jammer - good call on their part. The defensive line is easily getting pressure and pushing that Cowboys line in any direction they want.

The lack of penalties is very encouraging.

The 2nd stringers are simply inconsistent. Sometimes the 2nd-string Oline played well; sometimes the Cowboys' second stringers found it easy to push them around. Quarterback Johnathan "straight outta" Crompton was the only consistent player, consistently awful. His terrible decisions were bewildering. That right there is one hell of a project.

What we need to see more of:

Dombrowski/Green at LT, Clary at RT. These guys start to fall off which is unacceptable. They need a breather but the team lacks the depth to afford them that. I don't know what they, or the team/coaches have to do, but there is need for an adjustment here.

WR corps. Seyi, Buster, Jeremy Williams, Reed all need extended time with Philip Rivers at quarterback. The options here are fantastic but they need the reps now.

Safety. It's heavily overlooked but a good set of safeties makes for a great secondary. They're solid in the first unit - Weddle even had a great play with an INT - but I hope they're getting challenged in practice. In games, the safeties need to show that they know their role. Spillman and Stuckey heavily disappointed. The cornerbacks are great but the safeties are key to a great secondary.

They're going to lose the all-around better, reigning SB Champion, New Orleans Saints next week so let's focus on getting these players reps against an elite team...oh and staying healthy of course. GO BOLTS!

Our starters definitely looked better than the Cow-pies strarters and the second half degenerated into "scrub on scrub violence"...at that point you have to look at individual effort and available roster spots.

Good things:
Fewer penalties than last week
Mathews looks like the real deal
Floyd and Naanee look like a legit 1 - 2 punch at WR
Pass protection is good (not great), run blocking is solid
The kickers seem to have healed up during the off-season
Run defense looks really good
Ajirotutu comes up with a big reception
Buster Davis played and didn't have to be helped off of the field.
Take a look at Dallas' offensive stats at half time compared to ours

Not so good things:
Not much of a pass rush early
Pass defense a little porous, definitely went downhill when the starters sat down (...there's a news flash, Ha ha)
LB Holt getting beat up physically during the game
Turnovers!!!
Josh Reed...hands of stone tonight
No positive impact from Jeremy Williams that I noticed
Cow-pie fans....lots of them

Quick summary: I think we are in good shape going forward. With the emegence of Mathews, the play action passes should work better because we have a legit threat to run the ball. The defense looks like it will be a lot better overall. Looking forward to seeing how they look against the Saints next week.